Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Tuesday Travel: Lighthouse Tour

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Some of you have likely noticed I've got a page on this site that's sort of an ongoing, ever-growing, totally-out-of-control bucket list. It's nothing fancy at this point, just a list of places I want to go someday, things I want to do or experience - but it's the record of my lust for adventure, my desire to see the world around me, my almost soul-deep need to explore and experience other places. When I begin to experience the things on it, I'll share them here, and that list will slowly fill up with links - posts about the adventures life has taken me on.

There are obvious things on it, things lots of people want to do, like parasailing and walking through the streets of Prague, visiting the Louvre and spending time in one of those over-the-water huts in someplace like Fiji.

There are some more ... frivolous ... items to be found among my travel dreams, as well, like a tour of the world's castles (and Temples/Churches/Cathedrals). Standing, fallen, glorious, ruined by time. Regardless of country, history or origin, I pretty much want to see them all.

But oh, the lighthouses. From country to country and coast to coast, this planet is dotted with beacons of safety - lighthouses that guide our sailors and fishermen safely home from their journeys at sea.

They come in all shapes and sizes, with varieties of style, color, and atmosphere. But each and every one is beautiful and fascinating to me - each one filled with history, purpose, and substance. And because I haven't yet had much chance to travel and explore the world around me, I've fallen in love with lighthouses in the next best way. I love sculptures of them, photos of them. I love even imagining them - to the point where I will almost automatically love any book or movie that features one.

I even featured one myself; in Selkie, my heroine's best friend Brenna lives in one.

But there are so many, right? So where to start?

This is a perfect trip to plan as an extension of my RV dream - so ideally, I'd like to head up to the northernmost corner of the United States and begin my tour right here on my own land, in my own country. I'd head down the coast of Maine, hitting one lighthouse at a time, exploring the area, taking in the history of the buildings, the beauty of the surrounding seas. I'd find a place to finally try lobster. And then I'd move down the coast, soaking up the variances in speech, in scenery, in sand. I'd make my way through the New England states and further, through the mid-Atlantic states until I found myself once again embraced by the South - where I would stop to enjoy the twang of a down-home diner waitress serving sausage biscuits and gravy.

A little further down the coast, I'd revisit St. Augustine, which I haven't seen since I was a child, and then make my way still further south - to beaches and people as familiar to me as my own family. Florida, where the sun still blazes in December and the sea will overpower you in an instant if you dare to underestimate her majesty.

I'd make my way down the Keys, which I've never seen even though I grew up in Florida, and back up the Gulf coast - happy to find myself again in front of the lighthouse in Ponce de Leon.

The trip would go on this way, across the Gulf coast of the South and down the eastern edge of Texas. Then I'd cross over to the California coast, where the journey would continue northward until I found myself at the upper corner of Washington State, mostly sated and probably almost unbearably happy to have had such a beautiful adventure.

And then what?

Well then, opportunities to explore still abound. There are lighthouses around the coasts of Hawaii and Alaska, and even dotted throughout the inland Unites States, up and down our navigable rivers, around the banks of our lakes. I would see them too, along with the people and things surrounding them.

And then ... well, who knows what my wanderlust will be demanding then? I guess if we're still meeting here, we'll figure it out together.

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My grandmother was also fascinated with lighthouses. She was a frustrated artist and I remember her sketching a lighthouse over and over, then, obsessively, painting and re painting it to get it "just right." That trip sounds amazing.

I'm inland, so we don't really have authentic lighthouses here. But I grew up close to the Florida coast, and I miss the beaches so much! I think that's half the appeal of a coastal lighthouse tour - between the lighthouses, the beaches, and the freedom to pick up and move on whenever I need to ... it just sounds like Heaven to me.

I bet it was a great trip! Maine is one of the places I've been fascinated with ever since I was younger - I've always wanted to spend a winter there, just snowed in and roughing it in the woods somewhere. With the milk buried outside to keep it cold. (I clearly have a lot of VERY weird bucket list items.)

Yeah when I saw one as a kid I remember being totally mesmerized. Like it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen ... actually it may be that that field trip was what initially sparked my having such a desire to travel extensively someday.

I think those are the best ones - the very old ones. Especially if they haven't been modernized much, because then they combine the charm of a lighthouse with the simplistic beauty of the old ways of living.

I used to be fascinated with lighthouses when I was a child. I think it's amazing that it serves as a guide for boats and ships that are a lost at sea. In a way, it helps save lives especially during the time when ships would often never return from their voyages. I hope you get to see as much lighthouses as you can someday.

I LOVE lighthouses. My grandmother loved them the most and so when she passed it became a constant visual reminder of her. We even took a big family trip around the Outer Banks to see all the lighthouses there. Your trip from Maine to Florida sounds great!

Thanks! I think it's cool that you're able to use lighthouses as a way to still feel a bond with your grandmother, too - it's amazing what we leave behind (in the hearts of those close to us) when we're gone, isn't it?

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